reductio ad absurdum

reductio ad absurdum - noun - a reduction to an absurdity; the refutation of a proposition by demonstrating the inevitably absurd conclusion to which it would logically lead


At some level, this word (phrase) seems appropriate given the post to the youtube video about the answer why most Americans can't find their own country on a map. However, this word was inspired by this item on: reddit. If you read the article referred to by the comment, make sure not to miss the point of the article - which isn't to call Java programmers stupid.

supererogatory

supererogatory – adj - Going beyond the requirements of duty; greater than that required or needed; superfluous.

No, this is not a useless word; I've often seen it in print.

And now, here's a product of our public schools favoring us with her opinion. (I almost hate to post this. She really is a beautiful girl, and her smile lights up every room she enters. She long ago learned that a guy will do just about anything for her, but now she's a worldwide figure of fun. That's her on the right.)

manumit

manumit - verb - to free from slavery or servitude

A mandate during the year of jubilee.

pukka

pukka - adj - authentic; genuine; good of its kind; first-class

mulct

mulct - verb - to punish for an offense or misdemeanor by imposing a fine or demanding forfeiture; to defraud; to swindle

So, if you have been punished by having to pay a fine, you have been swindled. Remember that the next time you have to pay a traffic ticket.

melodrama

melodrama – n - A dramatic form that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization.

Very popular, especially in Victorian England - but not only there by any means, and not only then either. Still, I grow nostalgic for a time I never knew when I think of Varney the Vampire, Sweeney Todd (the demon barber of Fleet Street), Sawney Beane and his cannibal family, etc.

tout court

tout court - adv - Briefly: without qualification or additional information.

A foreign term for the reading vocabulary.

And now - humor a middle-aged fat man with trifocals - another modern who strikes my fancy, Charlize Theron. She does a great Georgia accent, and she gave one of the gutsiest answers I've ever heard in an interview. When asked why she left South Africa (she's a Boer!), she replied, "It was no place for a pretty white girl." Her one defect, which I find easy to overlook, is that she's only an inch shorter than I am; in heels, she'd be a little taller.

bill of attainder

bill of attainder - n - A legislative act pronouncing a person guilty of a crime, usually treason, without trial and subjecting that person to capital punishment and attainder. Such acts are prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.

I ran into this term while reading the debates on the Constitution (in 2,000+ surprisingly interesting pages). I'm trying to figure out where we went wrong, and I'm starting my search at the beginning.

Today's exquisite is Connie Nielsen. One of the things I like about her is that she looks like a grownup.

impudent

impudent – adj - Of, pertaining to, or characterized by impertinence or effrontery: The student was kept late for impudent behavior.

A favorite saying of adults in the days of my youth was, "Of all the impudent tricks, that one beats all!"

leave

leave - noun - permission to be absent, as from work or military duty

Yes, I'm going to leave (the verb) so I'll not be updating words that frequently. It's time for my annual two week military duty - so I'm taking (somewhat) leave of this list for perhaps that long. I'll still have internet access, so you may still see words appear here.

verily

verily – adv - In truth; really; indeed.

Inspired by my reading of John's Gospel.

jeremiad

jeremiad - noun - A tale of sorrow, disappointment or complaint; a doleful story; a dolorous or angry tirade

parse

parse - verb - To resolve into its component parts; to examine closely or critically; to make sense of; to comprehend; to analyze or separate into more easily processed components


Something we do everyday. What is interesting is that (I'm guessing here) most people probably associate this word with computer science.

chattel

chattel – n - A movable article of personal property; any article of tangible property other than land, buildings, and other things annexed to land; a slave.

Slaves were a prime example in our history, but the issue was never quite so cut and dried as many moderns now see it. A Northern factory worker worked - if he was lucky - five 12-hour days a week and eight on Saturday for bare-subsistence wages; a slave may have worked from dawn to dusk but he got free room, board, and medical attention. If the factory worker was unable to work for any reason, age,injury, or illness, he was out of luck; a slave had full retirement benefits until death. George Washington made an inventory of his assets in 1795 and discovered that he owned 317 slaves, only 104 of whom were actually working; the rest were either too old, too young, or too sick. In other words, better than two-thirds of his work force called in sick every day.

Of course, slavery had its down side, starting with the fact that a slave couldn't quit his job. My point is only that the issue is not quite so black-and-white as may appear on first glance. (And - No! - I am not defending slavery.)

rusticate

rusticate - verb - to go into or reside in the country; to pursue a rustic life

Not for me! I'm all about technology (got to have my high-bandwidth internet), which is usually more available in the city than the country. Still, I enjoy visiting the country; it's beautiful out there.

wax

wax – v - To grow or become.

We all know what wax is, but I want to call attention to its verb form. For example, I have a marked tendency to wax nostalgic, to wax sentimental, etc.

And now, here's today's exquisite female (men are many things, but exquisite is an adjective I'd hate to have applied to me). We tend to think of Elizabeth Taylor as an aged fat woman, but here's what she looked like in her youth. At age eight I saw her in Raintree County and fell in love for the first time in my life.